Bennard Blackmont
A young man with dark, black hair, a very big and long nose, blue eyes (with a tiny bit of grey in it), and an even scar over his left cheek. Biography Bennard was born to Lord Michael Blackmont and Michael's cousin, Lady Ynys Blackmont. As their first child he was destined as heir to House Blackmont and his great strength as a child was promising. Yet it was also promising, that he preferred fighting always over talking. As a little child Bennard fought with his friends and because they were all as young as he was, his great strength let him win every single time. As his father saw him winning again, he went to his son and told him, that he will become the greatest warrior there is, if he learns how to fight with real swords. A few days later he began training with the master-at arms. After the first lessons of how to hold a sword and how to hit with it, he wanted to fight his master-at-arms. And every time they fought, the master-at-arms lost and Bennard won without a single wound. Soon he figured winning against your teacher isn't normal, so he also figured out, that he had to be invincible and could not get harmed. To proof his belief to everyone, he waited until his sixth nameday, so everyone he knew could see. Then, at his sixth nameday, he took a knife and cut himself in the left cheek. Since then he has an even scar at his left cheek, which reminds him and everyone else, that he is not invulnerable. After this incident his grandfather, the master-at-arms, wasn't as nice as before anymore. Harder then ever he got trained to not only attack with his great strength, but to also defend himself with the sword and to be also faster and not just stronger than his enemy. Whenever he failed defending himself, Lyonel Blackmont didn't stop attacking him, as he would have done before, but hit Bennard until he lied crying on the ground. Sometimes the injuries Bennard suffered from were too great for him to fight, so he had to spend that day with maester Forley, but on every other day they trained for at least 2 hours a day. Though it was a very hard and painful training he was always excited to get the training's sword back into his hands. Besides training with the master-at-arms, he was also trained to read and write. He was a very slow learner - he had to learn it for over three years - but he learned. He had to read a lot, mostly about the donnish civil war, and though he learned reading he forgot the things he read almost immediately. He was never interested in history and as his maester recognized that, he gave him books about tournaments and duels and feasts. He was much more interested in these books, yet he still hated his reading and writing lessons. Maester Forley suggests, that he hated these lessons, because he was neither good at reading nor at writing. So it was a cycle, he didn't want to learn it, because he was too bad at it, yet he was too bad at it, because he didn't want to learn. With the age of ten he then became the squire of ser Harmon Blackmont, his uncle. He got a lot closer to his uncle and he learned a lot about honor and being a knight, but Ser Harmon Blackmont couldn't teach him that much about fighting anymore, cause he himself got all these things taught by the same man: Lyonel Blackmont. Being the strongest and their Lord, made him the leader of his little group of friends. They were four young men around the age of 12 and 13. Their goals were to get the best wine, the best food and the best girls, so they raided the wine cellars, the kitchens and the brothels of near towns and cities. Half a year long they succeeded, but then they got caught. They got caught in a brothel of Blackmont, in which they enjoyed some prostitutes bought with his fathers money. As a punishment for their crimes his father imprisoned them all for another half a year. As soon as the time was over, Bennard's friends were sent far away, so they wouldn't see each other again. Without his friends he began drinking even more than before. The first two weeks after his friends were sent away, he did nothing else than drinking. He began drinking in the evening in some tavern and he drank until he had to puke. At the next day he did nothing else than staying in his bed, going back to the tavern again in the evening and drinking again until he had to puke, just to do it over and over and over again. After around two weeks of just drinking, he wanted to go out in the evening again, but his sister, Delonne caught him and ordered the guards to not let him go out again. Than she told it their father, who wasn't interested at all about what his son does in the evening. So he sent his brother, ser Harmon Blackmont, who took the hung-over Bennard outside, gave him a sword and fought him until he lied crying on the ground. With the words: "That's why a true knight never gets drunk." At the next morning he first went injured to his uncle to ask him, if he could be his squire again, then, after his uncle accepted his request, he went to Maester Forley to get his wounds patched up. As soon as he was (at least almost) ready to go he travelled through the lands of house Blackmont, accompanied by ser Harmon Blackmont. Together they defeated some criminals, judged over already caught criminals, drank a few beers, yet he never drank too much again, and made themselves popular and loved by their people (in helping them, drinking with them, joking with them, etc.). As they came back to Blackmont, his father decided to knight him. Yet Bennard still went to either his uncle or his grandfather to train a bit or just to duel, but he did it neither regularly nor often. In the winter of the year 297 his father rode out with some of his knights, but when he came back, he was dead. Why he rode off in the winter is unknown, but known is, that he fell of his horse and broke his neck. His funeral was a small one and the grief about his death seemed to be as small as the funeral. Not just didn't Bennard seem sad about his father's death at all, but also did Lord Michael's wife wear no black dresses at his funeral. All the knights who rode off with him are now the personal guards of Lord Bennard. Timeline * 280 - Bennard is born * 286 - Bennard cuts himself in the left cheek at his sixth nameday * 290 - Bennard becomes Harmon's squire * 293 - Bennard gets imprisoned for half a year * 293 - Bennard becomes Harmon's squire again * 294 - Bennard gets knighted * 297 - Death of Lord Michael Blackmont * 298 - Bennard becomes the Lord of House Blackmont Family Tree * Lord Bennard Blackmont (18) ** Michael Blackmont {died in 297 at the age of 34} *** Ser Lyonel Blackmont - his father (52) *** {died in 269 at the age of 26} *** {died in 280 at the age of 33} *** Myria Blackmont - his sister (32) *** Belandra Blackmont - his sister (32) *** Ser Harmon Blackmont - his brother (29) ** Ynys Blackmont - his mother and cousin once removed (33) *** {died in 280 at the age of 33} *** {died in 291 at the age of 43} *** Lyonel Blackmont - her uncle (52) *** Frynne Blackmont - her sister (30) *** Garin Blackmont - her brother (28) ** Delonne Blackmont - his sister (15) ** Lewyn Blackmont - his brother (13) ** Jonelle Blackmont - his sister (8) Household and Supporting Characters * Ser Harmon Blackmont - Castellan, Uncle - Archetype: Castellan * Ser Mychel Briar - Guard - Archetype: Warrior (Axe) * Ser Edric - Guard, former Hedgeknight - Archetype: Tourney knight * Maester Forley - Maester - Archetype: Translator * Kyra - Mistress - Archetype: Executioner * Ser Lyonel Blackmont - Master-at-arms * Ser Lyonel - Guard * Gerris - close friend and squire Category:Dornish Category:House Blackmont